FAISLABAD:
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested six people, including four PASCO employees and a private broker, accused of stealing wheat and adulterating bags with soil, officials said on Monday.
The operation was carried out at PASCO warehouse in Tandlianwala, and the FIA has obtained physical remand of the accused for five days before the court.
According to the FIA, during the raid led by SHO FIA Faisalabad Ajmal Hussain Awan and his six-member team, nearly 2,000 wheat bags were found to be filled with soil instead of wheat, with an estimated value of Rs 70 million.
The warehouse was reportedly supposed to store 18,000 bags of wheat and the total stock is being verified.
No senior officials from PASCO or the Food Department were present during the raid.
The arrested accused included assistant procurement inspector Shamsher, chowkidar Suhail, chowkidar Ali Sher and chowkidar Kashif.
FIA sources said the suspects had caused losses of tens of millions of rupees to the national exchequer by adulterating and diverting wheat from government reserves.
Following information obtained from the suspects, FIA teams raided a private warehouse in Okara, recovering 1,400 bags of wheat that had allegedly been transferred from Tandlianwala.
The operation also led to the arrest of PASCO zonal chief Okara Rao Tariq Mahmood and private broker Muhammad Mansha, who were questioned about their involvement.
Investigators also recovered 1,000 empty burlap bags from the private warehouse.
FIA officials said the arrested individuals had admitted to adulterating wheat with soil and extracting approximately 1,200 bags, causing substantial financial losses to the national treasury.
The agency expanded the scope of its investigation and launched additional raids to arrest other accomplices involved in the scheme.
